January 15, 2011

Motown Unreleased - 37 years of myths and mis-information - Part1

Since The Four Seasons left Motown in 1974 and the subsequent release of the ‘Inside You’ album (Motown M6-852S1) in September 1975, fans have questioned whether any other tracks remained left in the vaults.

Rumour and myth have circulated since and it is amazing that no definitive answers have been found. But now in what is to me a ‘shocking’ disclosure we can prove that the answer is YES completed masters do exist and with examples and research we show all fans the potential which has been wasted. Until now that is, when we wonder, perhaps, if the success of Jersey Boys has created a climate in which anything is possible.?

In our articles we will explain the history of rumour and mis-information, describe the difficulties with Motown Universal’s record keeping and vault masters and tell you what MAY and what DOES exist based on today’s information.

We’ll also examine the possibilities of future research and release for what are clearly ‘lost gems’.

Comments

It's so wonderful to hear this "new" material by the Seasons. There must be so much more as yet unheard..... surely we must be allowed to enjoy all unreleased songs. With the interest generated by Jersey Boys,I'm sure there are many Seasons fans - old and new- who would be keen to buy. So c'mon Mowtown!!
Jules Saney.

OK, MOTOWN, BOB AND FRANKIE AND CHAMELEON. THIS IS ONE OF MANY. LETS KEEP THE PRESSURE ON TO GET THE REST OF THE SONGS OUT OF THE CAN SO TO SPEAK!!!!!!! THE DIE HARD FANS LIKE US DON'T CARE IF FRANKIE IS SINGING MARY HAD A LITTLE LAMB! WE WANNA HEAR IT !

Although this recording is from a degraded cassette tape which is 37 years old enough of the sound has survived to show that tracks were completed. How many remains to be seen. Lee Shapiro and Gerry Polci appear vocally on this track so I am told but all instrumentation is by Motown in-house musicians. Hiss removal is on-going Casey tells me, to try to get the best out of this recording.

I know all FV4S fans will want more of this, and would dearly love to have any available unreleased material put out on a CD for all to hear. I'm sure everyone would appreciate that some tracks are not perfect, which explains why they were never released back in the seventies, but we would rather have them like this, than rotting away in a vault somewhere, where nobody can enjoy the music.
Rod Bacon (UK)